Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [34]
‘It’s warm here, in the depths,’ she said, swimming out into the middle of a large eddy. ‘Come on.’
He didn’t move but simply watched.
‘I’m not bringing you to the Caller stinking of the Black Swamp.’ She spoke before diving under the surface again.
Jarrod started unlacing his boots as she came up for air.
‘Who’s the Caller, exactly?’ he asked.
‘She’s the one who sent for you, the one we’re going to T’locity to meet.’
Jarrod had a fleeting intuition that Selene might have it all wrong, that he may not be the one the Caller wanted to see at all. He sent a silent plea to Drayco and Rosette while stepping out of his clothes, but there was no reply. If Rosette didn’t show soon, he’d have to think up a new set of possibilities.
Selene scrutinised him as he entered the stream. ‘You have no scars,’ she said, a frown crossing her face. ‘And no tattoos?’
‘The first is right,’ he smiled. ‘No scars on this body, but…’ He turned his back to her, revealing a solar disk between his shoulder blades, held up by wings that spanned his broad shoulders, the tips extending down the backs of his arms. Two cobras draped the length of his spine, rearing up at the small of his back.
‘Oh.’ Selene’s mouth formed the shape of a circle. ‘What creatures are those?’
‘The cobras? They are similar to yours,’ he said, indicating her forearms as he waded deeper into the river. ‘Ah, here’s the warmth.’ He gave a brief smile before diving. When he came up for air, she was right in front of him, ready with another query.
‘What do they mean?’
Jarrod hesitated. He didn’t want to reveal too much to this woman. The more time he spent with her, the more he felt curiously uncomfortable. Something didn’t seem right. ‘Cobras are guardians.’
‘Guardians?’ She said the word slowly.
‘Protectors.’
She nodded, dipping her chin under the water as she did, treading to stay afloat. ‘And what is it they guard? Is someone after you?’
He winked. ‘Not at all, now that I have my cobras.’
Selene didn’t look impressed. They trod water in silence, staring at each other before swimming back to shore. She asked no more about it. He got the feeling she was making up her mind about him. He hoped her conclusion would be beneficial.
The sun came out fully as they emerged from the pool, warm against bare skin. They busied themselves with tasks—drying hair, shaking out their clothes and washing away the worst of the caked mud from cuffs and hems.
‘Hungry?’ Selene asked, reaching into her cloak pocket. She pulled out a pouch filled with slices of dark bread laced with fruit and nuts.
‘Not right now.’ Jarrod shook his head. ‘Thanks anyway.’
She looked at him sideways. ‘What kind of man are you?’
‘A different kind,’ he said. He could eat, and happily, but he didn’t want to. He certainly didn’t need to. His body was a tulpa, made and held together by thought, and as long as his thoughts were healthy, so his body would be, regardless of whether he fed it or not. Energy follows thought, he mused.
Right now most of his thoughts and energy were focused on locating Rosette, and he didn’t want any distraction. He knew if Drayco had come through the portal, and Rosette had emerged from the cave, the temple cat would hear his mental messages. At least, he would if he were alive. Jarrod looked at Selene, smiling to hide his uncertainties. Dwelling on this ‘what if’ certainly isn’t going to help, he reminded himself.
Once she’d eaten, they dressed in damp but clean clothes and returned to the road. Eventually it merged into a paved thoroughfare that became increasingly trafficked, the congestion quite a contrast to the earlier part of their journey. Carts drawn by dappled horses passed them by, as did larger wagons pulled by teams of shaggy brown oxen with gold rings